Written Answers Thursday 8 July 2010

Scottish Executive

Justice

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions for poaching have (a) been brought and (b) resulted in a conviction in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Kenny MacAskill: The available information is given in the following table.

  Persons Prosecuted in Scottish Courts for Poaching1 by Result, 2004-05 to 2008-09

  

 Main Result of Proceedings
 2004-05
 2005-06
 2006-07
 2007-08
 2008-09


 Charge Not Proved
 0
 4
 0
 0
 1


 Charge Proved
 5
 2
 3
 8
 2


 Total
 5
 6
 3
 8
 3



  Note: Where main offence. The offences for poaching were brought under the following acts: Poaching Prevention Act 1862 section 2; Game (Scotland) Act 1832 section 1; Night Poaching Act 1828 section 1; Game (Scotland) Act 1832 section 1; Game (Scotland) Act 1772 section 3; Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 section 17(1) & 23(1).

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken in terms of (a) pre-employment checks, (b) induction and supervision and (c) other performance management processes to ensure that any potential risks associated with the employment of locum doctors are minimised.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34639 on 1 July 2010. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www:scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the employment of locum doctors other than through the contract agencies increased from 31% to 33% between 2006-07 and 2008-09.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34600 on 28 June 2010. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it allowed the national locum agency contract to lapse in 2009 and what the financial consequences were.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-34583 and S3W-34584 on 30 June 2010. All the answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

NHS Staff

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the proposed NHS job losses will affect patients from East Renfrewshire.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government has made clear to NHS boards that any proposals for service redesign must benefit patients and that any reductions in workforce costs should have no impact on frontline services or the quality of patient care.

National Health Service

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to the need to improve the central collection of data in relation to (a) health services and (b) education to inform planning decisions.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government continues to work with partners across health and education to ensure that appropriate and necessary data are gathered, shared and used.

National Health Service

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients from Scotland have received treatment under the EU cross-border healthcare agreement.

Nicola Sturgeon: There is no EU cross-border healthcare agreement. Rather, European case-law has established that, under Article 56 of the Treaty of the Functioning of Europe (formerly Article 49 of the EU Treaty) patients have the right to obtain healthcare services in another European Economic Area (EEA) country that is the same as, or equivalent to, a service that would have been provided under the patient’s home healthcare system. This is subject to prior authorisation in certain circumstances, as set out in the National Health Service (Reimbursement of the Cost of EEA Treatment) (Scotland) Regulations 2010.

  The patient pays for the treatment up-front and has a right to claim reimbursement up to the amount the same, or equivalent, treatment would have cost had the patient obtained it from their home healthcare system, or the actual amount if this is lower.

  NHS territorial boards across Scotland have confirmed that since 2006, when the case-law was established, a total of three patients have received treatment in other EEA countries under Article 49/Article 56.

National Health Service

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been treated in Scotland under the EU cross-border healthcare agreement.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34848 on 8 July 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website; the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

  NHS territorial boards across Scotland have confirmed that since 2006, when the case-law was established, a total of two patients have received treatment in Scotland under Article 49/Article 56.

Police

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which police forces have full-time wildlife crime officers.

Kenny MacAskill: The following table lists the number of full-time police and civilian wildlife crime officers (WCO) employed in each police force. All forces have voluntary coordinators and voluntary WCO.

  

 Police Force
 Police Officer WCO
 Civilian WCO


 Central
 1
 


 Dumfries and Galloway
 
 


 Fife
 1
 


 Grampian
 1
 


 Lothian and Borders
 1
 


 Northern
 
 


 Strathclyde
 
 1


 Tayside
 
 1


 Total
 4
 2

Scottish Futures Trust

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the funding from the Scottish Futures Trust for 14 new high schools is secure.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government will be providing funding for all the school projects in Scotland’s Schools for the Future directly to the local authorities concerned. This funding will be provided over the period 2011-12 until 2017-18 and the Government remains committed to ensuring that the schools are delivered for the benefit of pupils, parents and communities across Scotland.

Scottish Government Staff

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many temporary and agency staff it employed in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10, broken down by (i) directorate and (ii) cost.

John Swinney: The following information relates to the core Scottish Government.

  Overall, the number of agency workers has reduced from 987 to 840. Spend has increased from around £6 million to £9.4 million. This is mainly because, over the two year period, fewer agency workers were used to cover administrative and support roles, but more were used to cover specialist work (as interim managers). In 2009-10, the average cost of an interim manager assignment was £27,000; the average cost of administration and support worker assignment was £5,700.

  The increases in expenditure are predominantly in Health and Justice. In Health, temporary demands, notably Pandemic Flu and the Penrose and Vale of Leven enquiries, were significant factors. In Justice, Scottish Resilience also supported the Pandemic Flu Co-ordination Team and used specialists to support delivery of an effective chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response strategy in the event of a major terrorist attack in Scotland.

  The information is not available at Directorate level, but has been provided at Department/DG level.

  Table 1 – Administration and Support Workers 2008-09

  

 Department/DG
 Numbers
 Cost


 Economy
 84
£372,527


 Education
 85
£387,051


 Environment
 139
£414,866


 Finance and Corporate Services
 78
£334,726


 Health
 179
£581,454


 Justice and Communities
 189
£547,054


 Permanent Secretary
 112
£241,577


 Total
 866
£2,879,255



  2009-10

  

 Department/DG
 Numbers
 Cost


 CCC
 6
£15,573


 Economy
 51
£237,886


 Education
 62
£396,544


 Environment
 110
£558,210


 Finance and Corporate Services
 72
£425,569


 Health
 158
£882,169


 Justice and Communities
 118
£816,350


 Permanent Secretary
 18
£57,233


 RAES
 29
£141,430


 Total
 624
£3,530,964



  Table 2 – Interim Managers 2008-09

  

 Department/DG
 Numbers
 Cost


 Economy
 15
£351,006


 Education
 13
£378,904


 Environment
 13
£250,032


 Finance and Corporate Services
 30
£820,417


 Health
 12
£349,541


 Justice and Communities
 36
£930,844


 Permanent Secretary
 2
£69,625


 Total
 121
£3,150,369



  2009-10

  

 Department/DG
 Numbers
 Cost


 CCC
 2
£28,474


 Economy
 11
£323,977


 Education
 12
£383,386


 Environment
 8
£490,394


 Finance and Corporate Services
 30
£975,429


 Health
 55
£1,300,851


 Justice and Communities
 53
£2,020,436


 Permanent Secretary
 7
£41,397


 RAES
 38
£313,778


 Total
 216
£5,878,122



  Notes:

  1. Costs are ex VAT and as invoiced during the financial year, including necessary expenses incurred to carry out the duties of the role. Numbers are assignments placed during the financial year.

  2: In February 2010 two new portfolios were created and a number of Directorates were realigned to the new, or different, DGs. Costs for work done by agency workers prior to 1 February 2010 will be reported against the DG under the old structure. Costs for work done from 1 February 2010 are reported against the DG under the new structure.

Scottish Government Staff

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether changes have been made to the redundancy package available to the Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Executive since May 2007.

John Swinney: Since May 2007 the redundancy terms available to the Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government has been in line with the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. Details of the scheme are available at:

  http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/my-civil-service/pensions/index.aspx.

  The Minister for the Civil Service announced on 6 July 2010 that the UK Government plans to introduce, as soon as possible, legislation to cap the amount of redundancy payments made to civil servants to bring them in line with best practice in the private sector.

Telecommunications

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what investigations it has made of the impact on individuals using mobile phones and pay-as-you-go phones of the cost of using 0845 telephone numbers.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Government has not made any investigations into the impact on individuals using mobile phones and pay-as-you-go phones of the cost of using 0845 telephone numbers. We understand, however, that the industry regulator, Ofcom, is currently carrying out a review of all non geographic call services, including 0845 telephone numbers, and that the issue of the impact of the cost of calls on mobile only pre-paid customers will be considered as part of this review.

Transport

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was awarded to each local authority under the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places scheme; how many households have been visited to advocate the merits of public transport in each case, and how many additional public transport journeys have resulted from these visits.

Stewart Stevenson: Activities in the seven communities in Smarter Choices Smarter Places include: better public transport services; residential improvements; upgrades in walking and cycling infrastructure; and travel information. The following table outlines funding awarded to each local authority under the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme between 2008 and 2011.

  

 Local Authority (SCSP Community)
 Scottish Government Funding (£)
 Match Funding from LA/RTP (£)
 Project Totals (£)


 Dundee City (Dundee - part of)
 1,424,000
 740,000
 2,164,000


 Dumfries and Galloway (Dumfries)
 2,703,000
 2,665,319
 5,368,319


 East Dunbartonshire (Kirkintilloch and Lenzie)
 610,000
 440,000
 1,050,000


 East Renfrewshire (Barrhead)
 813,200
 545,000
 1,358,200


 Falkirk (Larbert and Stenhousemuir)
 926,362
 453,362
 1,379,724


 Glasgow City( East End)
 1,342,500
 1,157,500
 2,500,000


 Orkney Islands (Kirkwall)
 762,000
 517,000
 1,279,000


 Funding totals
 8,581,062
 6,518,181
 15,099,243



  As an element of the projects being undertaken in Barrhead, Dumfries, Dundee, Larbert and Stenhousemuir, 22,640 households have been visited to date (see the following table for details). There are a further 13,854 household to be visited during the remainder of 2010. The purpose of these visits has been to deliver travel planning guidance and information, in all cases this includes the public transport options available to that community and how an individual or household can use these as an alternative to a journey undertaken by private car.

  


 Household Visits to Date


 Local Authority (SCSP Community)
 2009
 2010


 Dundee City (Dundee - part of)
 4704
 On going


 Dumfries & Galloway (Dumfries)
 -
 2,646


 East Dunbartonshire (Kirkintilloch and Lenzie)
 
 


 East Renfrewshire (Barrhead)
 2,500
 2,500


 Falkirk (Larbert and Stenhousemuir)
 5,843
 4,447


 Glasgow City (East End)
 
 


 Orkney Islands (Kirkwall)
 -
 -


 Total
 13,047
 9,593




  Monitoring and evaluating the impacts of the SCSP Programme is important. To date a baseline report has been published against which changes in travel attitudes and behaviour are being measured.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Transport/sustainable-transport/Baseline 

  Interim monitoring results will be available by Autumn 2010.